So much for the " Therion " in the public.
Now for the " Theos." The public-spirited owner of a lovely and precious garden by that blessed spot, Henley-on-Thames, gives free access to the public at all sorts of times and seasons ; and ufges others to do the same. In all his experience, which is considerable, he has never had to complain of damage or litter. The visitors are, it seems, " subdued to that they walk in." The neat beauty of the garden evokes ' respect and admiration ; or are the inhabitants of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire of a superior breed, of more gentle manners? Most of those who throw their gardens open, though at a small fee, for public inspection have much the same opinion of the public as the more thorough dispenser of beauty at Henley ; and it is a general experience that if a place is above a certain level of careful beauty it is respected ; but if it falls below that the acquisitive zeal and a queer destructive mania are let looSe. The wild may be more lovely than the cultivated, but it releases different instincts in the beholder ; and among an urban people at least, is regarded as fair game : the hunter in man supplants the worshipper. The millennium is doubtless on the way, but wild flowers and wild birds still need stringent protection. It is something that tame flowers do not.
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